John, boastfully to playmates: "Cath-olics are better 'n everybody!"Joe: "Why?"John: "Catholics learn better."

Some children feel deprived becauseof their group.

During conversation period: "My fatherbought two Christmas trees. One forthe office and one for Benjy and me.They're only little trees on account ofwe're Jewish."

What Will You Do?

These are the children next door,across the tracks, on the hill. Theyare not extraordinary children. Theypossess no particular qualities or ex-periences that make them differentfrom millions of others in the kinder-gartens and early grades of our publicschools. Their everyday impressions,wonderings, worries, and convictionspose a problem for education.

&an uizte Ywcds- aU c3Aa ettte'wnaticUudUndu&mwdinq?

HOWARD R. ANDERSON

The frequency with which the title of this article enters into profes-sional discussions is evidence of general agreement on its importancein educational programs for boys and girls. In the diversity of answersresulting, however, disagreement creeps in. Howard R. Anderson,specialist for social sciences in the Secondary Division of the U. S.Office of Education and member of a commission which studied thesocial studies program in German schools early in 1947, gives oneanswer to this question of the moment.

IN DISCUSSING any question it isimportant to determine carefully whatis being considered. In reference to thequestion stated above many will claimthat the schools have long taught in-ternational understanding. And in onesense they have. Pupils have read aboutother lands: their peoples, their waysof living, and their contacts withour country-culturally, economically,politically. Certainly pupils have hadoccasion to study treaties and alliances,agencies for achieving international co-operation and the techniques of powerpolitics, the piling-up of tensions which

24

lead to war, and the difficulties ofbuilding a satisfying and lasting peace.

But such teaching, alone, cannotachieve the goal sought. That goal is aworld in which all peoples (i) knowas much as possible about other peoplesand why they live as they do, (2) keepinformed about problems and issuestending to divide peoples and use theirinfluence to settle those issues in ac-cordance with universal values andthrough appeals to reason rather thanemotion, (3) are sincerely interested inhelping other peoples live the good lifeand are willing to make sacrifices to

Educational Leadership

that end, (4) realistically appraise na-tional goals and the extent to whichthese can be modified to conciliateother peoples (and also the point atwhich yielding in the face of pressureachieves no lasting good), and (5) con-sider carefully what responsibilitiesunder present conditions can reasonablybe assigned to agencies for interna-tional cooperation and which must beprovided for in some other way. Hav-ing stated rather dogmatically the goalsto be achieved, it is desirable to elab-orate these points lest the reader decidethat the stated purposes are too ideal-istic, or too reactionary, or too con-fused!

What's Happening Today?The schools must help youth keep

informed about current affairs. To keepinformed about current affairs youthmust become skilled in obtaining in-formation through various channels, inevaluating information, and in focusingknowledge and opinions on issues underdiscussion. Above all else, youth mustrealize the importance of keeping in-formed after the years of formal school-ing are over and when the influence ofpressure groups on his thinking be-comes more pronounced. The late CarlBecker spoke truly when he said, "Itis what we don't know that hurts usmost; not the other way around!"

Where Is the Information?

There is a great need to teach youthbetter how to get information fromreading, from listening to the radio andother forms of oral presentation, fromviewing films, through travel, andthrough conversation and participationin discussion. Research shows the dif-

October 1947

ficulty persons have in recalling ac-curately what they hive heard or seenand in remembering it long. There isevidence also that persons tend to re-member conclusions rather than rea-sons, to react to emotional appealsrather than to arguments, and to ac-cept claims to authority without raisingquestions about competence.

Obviously the best approach to help-ing pupils develop the abilities men-tioned, is not through isolated drill onskills or through the use of skill-buildingmaterials which are not directly relatedto problems recognized as significant.If pupils sense the importance of agiven problem and see good reasons forbecoming informed about it, the needfor certain skills becomes obvious andopportunities for functional skill-build-ing are provided.

How Does Peter Feel?In learning about other peoples and

their cultures pupils and their teachersmay well consider the advantage ofusing the type of analysis developed incultural anthropology. Such an ap-proach makes it easier to see how apeople develops ways of living to meetneeds, and that these ways of doingthings, though they may seem strangefrom an outside point of reference,"make sense" when viewed through theeyes of the home folk. To further inter-national understanding it is necessary todo more than to provide abundant andreliable iinformation about other peo-ples. Indeed, if persons who are rela-tively well informed about anotherpeople interpret what they see, hear, orknow about this people solely in termsof values which they themselves ac-cept, they may well feel greater antag-

25

onism toward this people than if theywere relatively'less well informed. Inother words, it is necessary not only toknow how other people live and whatthey cherish, but also to know whythey feel and live as they do.

To make this sort of identificationthe pupil must become skilled in puttinghimself in the shoes of other people-to see things from their point of view.When the pupil practices role-taking itdoes not follow that he concludes thatthe other person or another people arenecessarily right. For an Americanyoungster the question of right orwrong ultimately depends on whetherthe indicated behavior squares withdemocratic values. But the fact re-mains that even in a situation wherethe pupil must decide that other per-sons or people are wrong, he still is ableto understand what motives promptedthem to act as they did, and for thatreason does not feel that their behavioris merely savage or unpredictable.

Wherein Lies America's Responsibility?American youth must realize that he

is living in a country whose technolog-ical potential is so great that it, in effect,is equal to that of the rest of the world.This knowledge should help him under-stand why some peoples regard theUnited States with admiration tingedwith envy, and hope tinged with fear.Today many peoples who have longlived at a low technological level areseeking to change themselves intomodern industrial nations. Though theyhave made a beginning, the transforma-tion can be achieved only through longand arduous effort. During this periodof transformation the United States cando more than any other nation to ad-

26

vance or retard this progress. If theUnited States does not choose to do theformer, these countries may well decidethat they must adopt a pattern of livingdifferent from ours.

The gradual transformation of denselypopulated countries into modern indus-trial nations need not threaten the safetyor prosperity of the United States. Sucha transformation would make thosecountries better markets for Americanproducts and would lead to an increasein the flow of world trade. A worldin which there are many powers per-mits the grouping and re-grouping ofstates in the process of power-balanc-ing, and is less likely to produce animpasse than a world in which there isa bi-polar distribution of power. Thisstatement is made without any refer-ence to the obvious desirability andvery real possibility of working out im-proved procedures for internationalcooperation.

What About Germany?Thus far the discussion has been car-

ried on in general terms. Some specificexamples may well serve to illustratethe kind of thinking and action whichshould characterize democratic citizen-ship. In Germany nearly 70,000,000persons are living on less than 170,000square miles of territory. Those whoare living in the American Zone aresupposed to have a daily diet of 1550calories, but they do not always get it.If Germany were united, and if Ger-man agriculture were producing at pre-war efficiency, Germany would stillneed to import about forty percent ofits food. To pay for such imports, Ger-many would need to export about$2,ooo,ooo,ooo of products annually.

Educational Leadership

Under the circumstances, twhat atti-tude should an American citizen taketoward the revival of German industryand the opening of markets to Germantrade? What specifically can the citizendo about the one and the other?

In the Paris Conference where rep-resentatives from countries in WesternEurope met to do the preliminaryeconomic planning necessary to anyimplementation of the Marshall Plan,France spoke out strongly against therevival of German heavy industry. TheFrench held that it would be a mistaketo increase greatly the production ofsteel in the Anglo-American Zones ofOccupation when French productionwas only about 6,ooo,ooo tons an-nually.l To understand French opin-ion, the American citizen needs torecall that France has been invaded byGermany three times since 1870, thatthe Frenah favored a separate Rhine-land in I918 and gave up the idea be-cause they were promised an alliancewith Great Britain and the UnitedStates, and that the French favored astronger League of Nations and werewilling to act to prevent German re-armament. Under these conditions, howshould an American regard the Frenchpoint of view? Should he change hismind about the need for reviving Ger-man industry? Can anything be doneto cause the French to modify theirviews? Specifically what can the citi-zens do about this situation?

ISince this artidcle was written, the French haveaccepted an increase in German steel production to10,700,000 tons annually in return for a greatershare of the coal mined in the Ruhr. With increasedcoal imports the French hope to double their pro-duction of steel.

October 1947

And There's tuusia?American policy seeks to facilitate the

recovery of war-devastated countries,but on the condition that those coun-tries do all they can to help themselvesand to help each other. It also seeks tocurtail the extension of Russian in-fluence by providing assistance tothreatened countries. To implementthese policies it will be necessary to setaside credits, increase exports, and main-tain a large military establishment. Ina sense, the frontiers of the UnitedStates have been extended in the westto Korea, Japan, and the former Japa-nese-mandated islands, and in the eastto Germany, Austria, Greece, andTurkey. This expansion of frontiers re-sulted from American participation ina war which threatened our nationalexistence, and is likely to continueas long as we feel our security isthreatened.

On the other hand, the U.S.S.R.,which is greatly inferior technologi-cally to the United States, is doing itsutmost, we believe, to infiltrate coun-tries along its frontiers. The invasion isideological and not military-a strategydictated by the human misery in thecountries "invaded," by Russia's needfor repairing the devastation caused bywar, and by the technological infer-iority of the U.S.S.R. If this ideologicalinvasion is successful, the U.S.S.R. willsoon command the technological "knowhow" of Western Europe and the man-power of the densely populated areas ofAsia in programs of its own choosing.What would be the implications of sucha development for the United Statesand the other Western democracies?Is Russia's aggressive present-day for-eign policy really motivated by fear?

27

Does this fear, in part, arise from a U. S.foreign policy which, in turn, is in-spired by fear of Russian aggression? Ifso, is there anything either country cando to allay these fears without sacrific-ing vital advantages? What can theUnited States do to prevent the worldfrom crystallizing in a mold character-ized by a bi-polar distribution of power?

How Shall We Use the UN?In thinking about these and other

questions American youth must takeinto account the UN and otheragencies for international cooperation.It is important for him to realize thatthe United Nations organization recog-nizes national sovereignty and is basedon the principle that the "great powers"must be in agreement if any decisiveaction is to be undertaken. Under theseconditions the sphere of action open tothe UN is limited, and no countrywould be justified in putting its soletrust in the UN for the maintenanceof peace and security. On the other.hand, it is equally important for pupilsto know what the UN can do and forthem to ponder what additional powersare needed by this international or-ganization if it is to be more effective.

Clearly the policy of the United Statesincludes cooperation with the UN,direct dealing with other nations in sit-uations where effective UN actionwould be difficult, and "keeping ourpowder dry." The citizen may well feelthat a greater measure of internationalcooperation would do much to insurea happier world. But this goal cannotbe achieved by thrusting heavier re-sponsibilities on the UN than thatorganization currently can accept.

Are These the Goals?In recent discussions of the teaching

of international relations some personshave presented the point of view thatwhat is done in the United States mustdepend on what is being done in othercountries. This point of view is sub-stantially correct if the assumption ismade that American schools shouldpropagandize for unlimited interna-tional cooperation and for peace at anyprice. The point of view expressed inthis article does not rest on such anassumption but on the assumption thatAmerican youth should accept demo-cratic values, keep informed on currentaffairs, think straight, and stand readyto act in the light of their convictions.

Educational Leadership

ASCD MEMBERS-NOTICEYou will be asked to vote on the proposed constitutional changes asthey now stand on pages 59-64 of this issue. Please read these pagescarefully, preparing to vote on the amended constitution when ballotsare sent out later.

28

Copyright © 1947 by the Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development. All rights reserved.